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Open Book Blog Hop December 23 – 29th 2015

This week on the Open Book Blog Hop we’re talking about how we spend the Christmas holidays.

The afternoon of Christmas Eve is usually spent with my youngest son and his wife at my daughter-in law’s parents’ house. For some years now we have always eaten Christmas dinner with them. I’m not domesticated in the slightest, I hate cooking, but fortunately my son’s mother-in-law Sue loves it. It therefore works quite well for me; we provide the turkey on Christmas Eve, and Sue cooks it on Christmas Day, along with mountains of other juicy fare, and I don’t have to cook a thing!

Christmas Day is quite busy this year. During the morning we will visit my 91 year old mother, who is refusing to leave her flat for the first Christmas ever. After grabbing a sandwich back at home we will then visit our eldest son, his wife and two children for a couple of hours in the afternoon to exchange presents, then we will go off to Sue’s house for the turkey dinner.

On Boxing Day it’s time for our usual buffet, and I have to spend all morning in the kitchen preparing food (the occasion is right up there with my thyroidectomy). All the family turn up about 12.30 and I’ll cook a joint of pork, which Sam will cut into slices. This will be served with various other finger foods, as we haven’t got the space to sit 14 people down for dinner. I love to see all the family, but if only I could hire caterers for the day!

On the 27th December we will visit Sam’s mother, and then we’ll look forward to the boat trip up the Thames on New Year’s Eve to see the fireworks at midnight.

This is what we see before it gets dark…..

Then all hell’s let loose at midnight! Fireworks are let off from the London Eye.

Big Ben in the background. These were all taken from our trip to London on New Year’s Eve 2010.

How does P.J Fiala spend her Christmas holidays? Click here to read her blog and find out.

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That sounds lovely, especially the fireworks. It is sad that you don’t enjoy cooking and yet you have to. My sister-in-law doesn’t really cook either, but she’s married to my brother, who does, so he’s bringing something yummy to Christmas Eve.

Here in the States, a lot of grocery stores do catering platters. I enjoy cooking, so I don’t generally take advantage. Of course, I grew up in a restaurant (my father was a chef and my mother a diner waitress and they owned a diner for a while), so I have a lot of tricks for avoiding actual work in the kitchen. I love turkey because you season it, put it in a black enamel roasting pan with a bit of water in the bottom, stick a lid on it and walk away for five hours. My friends all think I slaved in the kitchen all day and I’m like … uh, do I tell them I was writing instead or would that ruin my reputation as a good cook.

Sounds like you have a great time! We have a quiet Christmas morning with Mimosas and then watch the kiddies open gifts. Then it’s off to the relatives who live in opposite directions of us but it’s worth it for the food!

Stevie, thank you for making me go research the East-end. I knew about it vaguely, from movies and books, but I’d never “met” anyone from there until now. Now I know it’s a lot like Manhattan’s West Side – very ethnically diverse urban environment. My husband, who grew up in the Northeast and lived in Manhattan and Staten Island as a kid, says there are so many delicatessens that you could easily never need to cook a meal for yourself and might not want to since you can eat such great food prepared by others.

The East End I knew as a child is not the East End of today unfortunately. However, I have my memories of it, and although I now live over 100 miles away I often visit if I go to concerts at the O2. You can take the girl out of London, but you can’t take London out of the girl…..